1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a surround sound virtualization apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a surround sound virtualization apparatus and method which may reduce computational costs for surround sound virtualization, and thereby may improve a performance of surround sound virtualization.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, audio technologies are developed to achieve realistic sound rather than simply high-definition sound due to an increase in the number of using channels. Accordingly, much research on surround sound virtualization technologies has been actively conducted. In a surround sound virtualization system, stereo sound may be received from a sound source, and upmixing may be performed towards a front left channel, a front right channel, a center channel, a surround left channel, a surround right channel, and a subwoofer speaker to be extended to a plurality of channels such as 5.1 channels. Also, sound downmixing to 2-channel sound may be done again, and the downmixed sound may be delivered to front left and right speakers. In a virtual surround system using headphones, the frequency characteristic of an input signal is modified by filtering with a head-related transfer function (HRTF). Also, the way that actual sound reaches an audience's ears based on a phase difference may be imitated.
In this instance, a huge amount of computations are required for surround sound virtualization, and therefore surround sound virtualization may not be achieved due to impractical complexity.
Accordingly, a surround sound virtualization apparatus and method which may embody surround sound virtualization with a small computational cost is required.